Rebekah Frey’s journey as State FFA Northern Region Vice President

During the State FFA Convention at Purdue University in June, Rebekah Frey gave her last official speech as the State Northern Region Vice President.

Frey centered the speech around her growth as a state FFA officer by reflecting on the fable of the Lion and the Mouse. During her speech she was creating a canvas of the lion.

During her time in the office, Frey transitioned from a timid and shy person to someone that could talk to anyone and stay true to herself.

To wrap up her speech Frey made her lasting point by showing the picture that she was preparing for the audience of FFA members from across the state. It was a picture of the mighty lion from the fable. Frey was talking about how the members needed to be more like the mouse by helping out and overcoming fears, and then she flipped the art piece over and hidden in the lion’s mane and face was the face of a mouse.

Frey talked about how there was pressure during her time as a state officer to become something that she didn’t want to be or wasn’t supposed to be and how that was a big growing point in her life.

“I grew a lot in confidence, especially where I want to go with my life. There was a lot of pressure to become something that I didn’t want to be,” Frey stated.

Frey will be attending the University of St. Francis in the fall and will be pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in graphic design. While she was in office, she would get a lot of questions and pressure about why she wasn’t attending Purdue to study agriculture.

“I had to make sure that I stayed true to myself. The state officers and my teammates helped me,” said Frey.

Frey and her six other teammates lived together at the State FFA Center in Trafalgar, Ind., for the whole year and became really close even though it was challenging.

“To work and live in the same place is never easy. It was the team meetings that kept us close together,” Frey noted. “We would sit down and anyone could say what they wanted to about anyone and we would let each other talk. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to listen to but it really helped.”

The state officers were always interacting with the FFA members in Indiana. They would host camps at the FFA center in Trafalgar, travel around to the schools for kickoffs, conventions, and banquets, and even planned and hosted the state convention at Purdue.

“We were absolutely exhausted all year long, but when members come they are where we get our energy from,” said Frey. “They’re what we’re working for all year long so it is rewarding in that aspect.”

The first moment that Frey knew that she could become a state FFA officer was her freshman year. She was sitting in the audience during a state FFA convention and Kelly Blackburn was giving her retiring speech about being an FFA officer. It was then when Frey knew that she wanted to run for an FFA state office.